Deals – 23 January 2004

Phillips Fox has helped one of Australia’s oldest financial services institutions to list on the ASX.Following demutualisation in 2002, the 158-year-old IOOF Holdings Ltd made its debut offer

Phillips Fox has helped one of Australia’s oldest financial services institutions to list on the ASX.

Following demutualisation in 2002, the 158-year-old IOOF Holdings Ltd made its debut offer of 13.3 million new ordinary shares at the facility price of $3.15 each last month.

Phillips Fox corporate partners Charles Anzarut and Steven Casper acted for IOOF , which began as a friendly society in 1846. Anzarut said Phillips Fox enjoyed a close working relationship with IOOF. At the listing ceremony in Melbourne, chairman of IOOF Ray Schoer praised the law firm for its “wonderful assistance” in the listing process.

Anzarut and Casper also received support from partner Tim Lyons, as well as Mark Stevens, Sean Tully, Jeremy Szwider, Tamara Kingsley and Nigh Tran.

Early this month, Linklaters helped finalise the first successful financing of an oil refinery by the bank market in more than a decade. The building of the US$1.2 billion Sohar Refinery, based in the Sultanate of Oman, is being financed by Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) and various commercial banks. Named oil and gas deal of the year for Europe, the Middle East and Africa by Project Finance International, Sohar will follow the oil refinery with a polypropylene plant, a power station and an aluminium smelter project.

International law firm Coudert Brothers has advised Wumart Stores, Inc. (Wumart) on the listing of its H shares on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Wumart’s initial public offering is the largest listing on the GEM board this year. The international placing and public offer are expected to raise approximately HK$500 million ($83 million) after deduction of related expenses. The public offer was about 150 times oversubscribed.

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